Human Resources: Supreme Court Issues Ruling Impacting Title VII

The United States Supreme Court issued a ruling today that impacts Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1963 by amending the classification of what is considered a supervisor and impacting Human Resources. The cases are Vance v. Ball State University, 11-556 and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, 12-484.

Human Resources:

Supreme Court Ruling

From The Washington Post:

WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday decided to make it harder for Americans to sue businesses for retaliation and discrimination, leading a justice to call for Congress to overturn the court’s actions.

The court’s conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker’s racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits, saying victims must prove employers would not have taken action against them but for their intention to retaliate.